autoricambi transmission mount too tall

[RRoller123]

Thanks all, I do have a small vibration that we have been trying to isolate, and I will take a look at this for sure. It must be there it seems.

[RoyBatty]

Just an FYI.
I picked up one of these mounts from AR for my 71 124 Coupe and it too was almost a full inch taller than the one I removed.
I mocked up the install the floor jack to check clearances in the trans tunnel with the tail about 1 inch higher.
All looked good. I installed the new taller mount and the noise from my trans was totally gone on the test drive thereafter.
Looks like Ramzi and Csaba once again have done their homework.

[85redpini]

items are shipped nowadays without boxes or markings because there are vendors out there trying 24/7 to steal suppliers. then spend 10' of thousand with the new supplier to stop them selling to other vendors. it has gotten really nasty in fiatpartsland oer the last 6 years. also, boxes cost money to import. when you pay $120.00 extra ups shipping for empty boxes for yout belt, it is not economical.

[nemoo]

Hi guys, I have some driveline/gearbox vibrations from about 70-km/h, but guibo and central support bearing don't seem to have excessive play when I yank the driveshaft. As a first step I was planning to replace the rear gearbox support which is certainly mushy. Currently the short version is installed, so I was wondering whether people were happier (= experience less vibration) after installing one with the 'firmer' rubber (MrFiat) as discussed above or with one using softer rubber? Thanks!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I can't help with whether a stiffer rear transmission mount would help in your case, but I do know that driveline vibrations around 40 mph (65 km/h) are fairly common. The cause is often bad U-joints or a driveshaft that is out of balance. Have you had the U-joints replaced recently, and maybe the driveshaft was reinstalled 180 degrees out? Or the driveshaft lost a balancing weight?

By the way, you will also likely experience the same vibration (but stronger) at double this speed, so 80 mph or 130 km/h. And even stronger at 120 mph, 193 km/h, although I don't think you want to test this...

-Bryan

[nemoo]

I have had the car for almost 15 years and in that time the driveline has never been touched. There have always been some vibrations but lately a little more pronounced.
For the last 15 years the rear engine seal has been leaking too and the rear transmission mount has become mushy over time, so I was just wondering what the experiences are with soft or harder rubber in the mount. Currently there is a lower mount and it looks like a higher mount would push up the gearbox too high, but possibly people have experience that this straightens out the driveline for less vibrations?
I don't think there is any risk in achieving multiples of 40 mph; Australian speed limits will take care of the second multiple and the lack of horsepower will take care of the third.....

[18Fiatsandcounting]

A new rear transmission mount would likely help, although it's kinda masking the problem as whatever is out of balance is still out of balance, but the new mount just holds things more firmly.

You could take the car to a shop and put it up on a rack, and "drive" the car with the engine on and in 5th gear. Go up to 70 km/h and have someone below look for vibrations in the front driveshaft, rear driveshaft, rear axle, rear tires, etc. Any of these could be the issue.

I'd start with a new transmission mount, check the U-joints, and perhaps have the tires balanced. Speaking of which, I've had cars with old tires that would vibrate at certain speeds. The solution was simply new tires, properly balanced.

-Bryan

[nemoo]

The tires were already on the car when I bought it in 2008 and have never been balanced since, so they will probably add extra vibrations to the mix.

As suggested, the first step will be a new transmission mount and if that doesn't cure most of the vibrations, slowly we will have to eliminate any of of the other possible causes.

Just on the subject of the mount though, currently I have a 'short' mount and to me it looks like a 'tall' mount might push the gearbox up against the body, but vendors claim that tall mounts can replace short mounts. As posted above even for the same size mount, there options with harder and softer rubber. Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with the tall/short mounts and/or firmness of rubber?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with the tall/short mounts and/or firmness of rubber?

I can't help with the firmness question, but I did manage to purchase the wrong mount for my '71 spider and it didn't quite fit. It was taller, which was OK, but the bolt holes where it attached to the transmission weren't in the right place. So, yes, it did fit, but I had to drill extra bolt holes.

Overall, I wasn't very happy with the solution, but I just didn't want to deal with returning the part, getting a refund, and finding the correct mount. I honestly don't recall which vendor it was, but it was one of the "major" vendors (either AR, M-B, or Vicks).

-Bryan

[nemoo]

Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with the tall/short mounts and/or firmness of rubber?

I can't help with the firmness question, but I did manage to purchase the wrong mount for my '71 spider and it didn't quite fit. It was taller, which was OK, but the bolt holes where it attached to the transmission weren't in the right place. So, yes, it did fit, but I had to drill extra bolt holes.

Overall, I wasn't very happy with the solution, but I just didn't want to deal with returning the part, getting a refund, and finding the correct mount. I honestly don't recall which vendor it was, but it was one of the "major" vendors (either AR, M-B, or Vicks).

-Bryan

Thanks for the info! I think I will buy one of the shorter ones then.

[85redpini]

vendors remove marking for 2 reasons
1. fiat owners have a bad habit of trying to find parts for sources other than the vendor. they will ask for a part number so they can buy if from oreillys or whatever
2. some fiat vendors will try to find your sources and steal them from you. i know of one vendor a long time ago who spent thousand of dollars to get the manufacturer not to sell to the original vendor
3. i saw the comment about vendors not offering ATE BOSCH ETC BMW owners might pay the high prices from these companies but fiat owners will not. BMW parts source list oe , brand name and aftermarket, but fiat owners historically want to pay dirt cheap prices
4 fiat parts houses have done a huge amount of work sourcing less expensive manufacturers for parts, ordering 500 of a item to get the factory to make them. guess how much of those parts remain on the shelves for decades?, because to be honest there are not enough fiat spiders on the road to really support those large purchases.
5. what percentage of the fiat owners on these 2 forums really spend enough to keep the vendors in business? how many need normal maintenance because they are driven every day?
6. fiat parts houses keep going because they care, and some are actually subsidized in some way.

I bought one of these from AR for my 71 Spider;
http://www.autoricambi.us/product/MO7-4 ... 5-5-speed/


But it appears to be at least 3/4" taller than the old one (after compensating for the deteriorated rubber). Here is a link to a photograph of my mount next to the AR mount.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zP3lPRp89iI/U ... C_0001.JPG

I initially thought their 4-speed mount looked like a better match. But I think I'm wrong after looking at it more.


I noticed that both Vicks and Midwest list a "5-speed" mount that looks like a closer match to mine;
http://www.midwest-bayless.com/storefro ... =313990215


http://www.vickauto.com/newstore/index. ... ts_id=2929



If I use the taller mount I think the shifter extension will interfere with the transmission tunnel. The one Vick's lists looks right to me. Anyone know whats going on here with all these different mounts listed for the same application?

On a side note I hate how Fiat parts supplier always try to hide the source of their parts by rubbing off part numbers or other markings. It makes it quite annoying to cross reference these things and figure out the correct part numbers for your car. Does their business model really rely on hiding their sources? Transparency is very important to me.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I don't know about the business models of the various Fiat parts vendors, but I'm very grateful that they are there. There are very few parts that are truly "unobtainium" these days, which is pretty amazing given the relatively low numbers of these cars still out there. So a big shout out of thanks to all that may be reading this.

It is surprising how many Fiat parts vendors there are. AR, Vicks, M-B, spiderroadster.com, Mr. Fiat, Chris Obert, Fun Imports, and I'm sure I'm missing some. Plus numerous vendors in Europe.

-Bryan